Day 27 3 11

Text is up now! The Patreon has the next THREE pages, plus accompanying text. I’m going to work on fixing my pacing. I finally realized why my pacing is so off on AD that it bothers me. It’s the only one I write text to and I have had it fixed in my mind that for printing… I would have the text on the right, comic on the left of the book. But you’ll notice as time has gone on, the chapters have become longer and the text shorter, because it ‘lines’ up that way as I’ve changed how I do the comic part. I’m not going to stick to that plan, because it was a huge headache if the text didn’t match up exactly to the pages and often it didn’t. Some pages have much smaller needs in text, some more, meaning they’d be out of sync constantly when I compile them and… one of those things I don’t want to deal with while putting together books. The text will follow the chapters in one chunk when I print, and yes, it will be done by fall. Right now, we’re trying to figure out what we’re supposed to do with where we live. :/

Just a little note as my husband made a small error in calculating his vacation days last month that reduced his paycheck by aroud $150, if you enjoy my work, consider supporting it via Paypal(on this page), Patreon, mailing a grocery gift card, or hitting my wishlist. You’ll notice that since I’ve begun using Patreon I’ve had a far smoother updating schedule. I even have enough buffer to update while on vacation!

I will be taking a week off at the end of August to spend only on commissions and owed art, since I’ve had difficulty working them into my workload and future commssions will be a rarity. – Tiff (Ugh, mispellings fixed… when I type on my Surface, I don’t have a keyboard for it and sometimes it misses and I don’t see it.)

Yeah, and don’t judge Lexx too harshly, or anyone else for that matter, because this conversation gets worse, then better, but some things will be handled far later.

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“Chel,” Vic turned to her, fixed in a serious and stern expression. “We can’t have dice breeding unchecked on this planet. They are not native species. They can destroy whole ecosystems.” Chel stared at the floor, feeling the words sink in. It was true, their intelligence would be a threat, even if she didn’t think it was fair to hold them.

“They are sentient creatures, Lexx.” Vic snapped. “I don’t believe for a moment that these will be the only babies.” Stealth, Epsy, and Serenity listened to the conversation quietly, ears back and bodies tensed at the topic going around involving them, but not directed at them. Zeta and Epsy were too busy devouring what remained of breakfast to be bothered and Swiftpaw wrapped himself around one of Keith’s legs as the boy made every effort to shove food into his mouth and not say anything. Now wasn’t the time.

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Discussion (10) ¬

I’ve been kind of disturbed by this arc and this last page just cements it for me. The dice are treated inconsistently by the characters (sometimes by the same characters at different times). Are they property? Are they people? Are they pets? If they’re sentient, as stated here, then they’re people, even if their personalities are more on the level of a small child or a teenager, rather than an adult. They’ve been shown to know what they want and to be capable of making decisions, even if the next page will then ignore those traits in favour of cute, animalistic behaviours.

So what’s the difference between (lack of) morality shown by the ADC towards Lexx and the treatment of the dice here by characters that are meant to be sympathetic and liked, Lexx in particular? Maybe it’s just a weakness in the plotting or in characterisation but there’s potential for a much better story here in this arc than what I’ve seen told so far.

You’re seeing 75% of the point. I’m not interested in changing a character’s way of looking at things, even if it makes them come across poorly, before they have time, growth, and the frame of mind to see it themselves. I knew weeks ago I was going to get lots of griping. 😀 I even teased it on Twitter, but nope, not changing a major thing to make others comfortable in this case.

No, I’m not just saying that it’s disturbing. If that’s your intention it’s a great place to take the story because it gives you lots to say. I’m saying that the characterisation and plotting has been a bit inconsistent so that the point doesn’t come across clearly. Your story has potential but it might be worth it to give it a second pass with a beta reader to catch these sorts of flaws.

I get it. Not all of them are on the same level of intelligence as Stealth and Sirius. Some of them, like Siphon, must be destroyed, because he’s just too dangerous. They can’t be allowed to breed for obvious reasons, but they cannot be granted the same rights as humans, because they cannot fully care for themselves.

Now, if they were given citizenship, I have no doubts that most, if not all of them, would end up in labs being cut open and repeatedly examined to the point of reverting. Many would end up in sideshows, or museums. One way or another, they would all be exploited, and probably treated cruelly.

They NEED caretakers because of this. They cannot fully be ‘people’ because they still have animal instincts, and as they age, those instincts are going to become more and more powerful.

They are dangerous, plain and simple, but you know what? So is gasoline. So is fire, and a chainsaw. You take precautions. You treat these things with respect. You do not abuse them. You take good care of them.

Treat them well, and they will respond in kind. Some, like Zeta, are only barely arguably sapient. Others, like Sirius, are every bit as intelligent as a human, and possibly moreso. I think how they are handled is a big job, because they will all have to be handled differently.

One major difference I can see is that the ADC is intentionally and knowingly exploiting Lexx and targeting him.

Vic and some of the other characters here aren’t attempting to exploit the dice for personal gain. They’re just not used to sentient animals is all, so the personhood of the dice hasn’t cemented for them.

As for Lexx, he’s always been a bit self-centered, but never to the point of being willing to hurt his dice more than necessary to play the game, and finally be free of it.

Why yes Vic! Avoid that ditch with Epsy to only walk straight into that one with the rest of the Dice.

This arc reminds me of the time Jiminy Cricket sung the “You are a human animal” song once. They may not be human, but what is human anyway? A race of intelligent beings that go against their instincts? Instincts that can be no less savage then any non sapient creature at times.

When you really get down to it, it seems the Dice our in no better position on how they’re viewed by others then how the ADC views Lexx. In fact when you think about, their lives practically mirror one another. I doubt Lexx thinks about this, but then again if the Dice’s interaction with Lexx is any indication, they already know he can’t do much more then make sure they win. Lexx is just another beast of battle, sure he feeds them, but he’s really in no better position then them.

Of course with these chicks, it makes you wonder if the human race will still be the smartest race of creatures on the planet much longer.

It seems the characters are unsure and confused in how they themselves view the Dice. Even Lexx isn’t sure of how intelligent the Dice are, IIRC. And, look at how irrationally humans breed. Why should we expect restraint from the Dice?